Memory card connector

ABSTRACT

A memory card connector includes an insulative housing having a terminal-mounting section which mounts a plurality of conductive terminals having contact portions for engaging appropriate contacts on a memory card. The housing at least in part defines a card-receiving cavity for receiving the memory card. A card eject mechanism includes a slider movably mounted on the housing. The slider is engageable with the memory card for movement therewith into and out of the cavity between an inserted connection position and a withdrawal position. A slide lock member is mounted on the connector, independent of the eject mechanism, and is engageable with the slider to hold the slider in its inserted connection position. An ejection control member is mounted on the housing for releasing the slide lock from engagement with the slider to allow the slider and memory card to be ejected.

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The Present Application is a Continuation Application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/587,318 (U.S. Publication No. 2008/0050954),filed on Apr. 30, 2007, which issued on May 4, 2010 as U.S. Pat. No.7,708,574. U.S. patent Ser. No. 10/587,318 is a U.S. National Phaseentry of PCT Patent Application No. PCT/US2005/0002156, filed on 24 Jan.2005, which is a PCT Application of Japanese Patent Application No.2004-016979, filed on 26 Jan. 2004, which issued on 18 Sep. 2009 asJapanese Patent No. 4376075. The contents of each of the aforementionedPatents and Applications are fully incorporated in their entiretiesherein.

BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT APPLICATION

Memory cards are known in the art and contain intelligence in the formof a memory circuit or other electronic program. Some form of cardreader reads the information or memory stored on the card. Such cardsare used in many applications in today's electronic society, includingvideo cameras, digital still cameras, smart phones, PDA's, musicplayers, ATMs, cable television decoders, toys, games, PC adapters,multi-media cards and other electronic applications. Typically, a memorycard includes a contact or terminal array for connection through a cardconnector to a card reader system and then to external equipment. Theconnector readily accommodates insertion and removal of the card toprovide quick access to the information and program on the card. Thecard connector includes terminals for yieldingly engaging the contactarray of the memory card.

The memory card, itself, writes or reads via the connector and cantransmit between electrical appliances, such as a word processor,personal computer, personal data assistant or the like. The card may beused in applications such as mobile or cellular telephones which areactuated and permit data access after identifying an identification codestored on a SIM (subscriber identification module) card. The SIM cardhas a conductive face with an array of contacts, and the mobile phonehas a SIM card connector with terminals for electrical connection withthe contacts of the SIM card to ensure the subscriber identificationconfirmation.

A typical memory card connector includes some form of dielectrichousing, which is covered by a metal shell. The metal shell may bestamped and formed of sheet metal material and formed substantially intoa box-shape. The metal shell and the housing combine to define acard-receiving cavity. One end of the cavity is open to form acard-insertion opening. The dielectric housing may be generally L-shapedor U-shaped and includes a rear terminal-mounting section at the rear ofthe cavity, and at least one longitudinal side wall section extendsforwardly from one or both ends of the rear section at one or both sidesof the cavity. The metal shell has a top plate substantially coveringthe dielectric housing, with side plates extending downwardly over theside wall sections of the housing. One or both of the side wall sectionsof the housing define the sides of the card-receiving cavity.

Some card connectors include a card eject mechanism whereby the memorycard is simply inserted into the connector, and the eject mechanism isused to facilitate removal of the card from the connector. Some ejectmechanisms include slider members which engage the memory card formovement therewith into and out of the connector. Latches, cams, ejectdevices and other operative components then are operatively associatedwith the slider rather than the memory card itself. One type of cardeject mechanism includes a heart-shaped cam slot in the slider, with apin member operatively biased into the heart-shaped cam slot, and with aspring member to normally bias the slider in a direction of withdrawalof the memory card. This type of card eject mechanism is called a“push/push type” ejector in that the memory card first is pushed intothe cavity of the connector to a latched operative position, and asecond push on the card is effective to release the card and allow thespring to eject the card from its latched position. Some prior artmemory card connectors of the character described above are shown inJapanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2002-252047; 2002-319451 and 2003-68399.

Such push/push type eject mechanisms continue to have various problems.For instance, after the memory card first is pushed into the cavity ofthe connector to a latched operative position, it is necessary that thememory card project partially from the connector while being held in thelatched position so that it is accessible for the second “push” when itis desired to eject the card from its latched position. Therefore, suchelectrical appliances as digital cameras, cellular telephones and otherelectronic devices must be sized or notched so that the rear end of thecard is partially exposed to enable the second “push” on the card.Partial exposure of the card can cause erroneous or inadvertent pushingof the card into the cavity, thereby causing an undesired ejection ofthe card. This can lead to the card being lost. In addition, notching ofthe rear of the connector to partially expose the card involves costlymanufacturing processes. This is particularly true with theever-increasing miniaturization of such connectors. Some connectors maynot even be constructed to allow for such notching. The presentapplication is directed to solving these problems by providing a systemwherein it is not necessary for the card to be exposed at the rear ofthe connector in order to effect ejection of the card there from.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT APPLICATION

An object, therefore, of the present application is to provide a new andimproved memory card connector of the character described.

In the exemplary embodiment of the disclosure of the presentapplication, the memory card connector includes an insulative housinghaving a terminal-mounting section, which mounts a plurality ofconductive terminals having contact portions for engaging appropriatecontacts on a memory card. The housing at least in part defines acard-receiving cavity for receiving the memory card. A card ejectmechanism includes a slider movably mounted on the housing. The slideris engageable with the memory card for movement therewith into and outof the cavity between an inserted connection position and a withdrawalposition. A slide lock member is mounted on the connector, independentof the eject mechanism, and is engageable with the slider to hold theslider in its inserted connection position. An ejection control memberis mounted on the housing for releasing the slide lock member fromengagement with the slider to allow the slider and memory card to beejected.

As disclosed herein, the terminal-mounting section of the housing is arear section, and at least one side wall section of the housing extendsforwardly from one end of the rear section. The card eject mechanism andthe ejection control member are disposed on the side wall section. Thecard eject mechanism is a push/push mechanism, whereby a first push onthe memory card moves the memory card and the slider to the insertedconnection position. The slide lock member is located to hold the sliderin the inserted connection position. A second push on the ejectioncontrol member releases the slide lock member from engagement with theslider to allow the slider and memory card to be ejected.

According to one aspect of the disclosure of the present application, ametal shell is mounted on the housing and combines therewith to definethe card-receiving cavity. The cavity has a front insertion opening topermit insertion and withdrawal of the memory card into and out of theconnector. The slide lock member is on the metal shell. In the preferredembodiment, the shell is stamped and formed from sheet metal material,and the slide lock member is stamped and formed as a cantilevered springarm integral with the shell.

According to other aspects of the disclosure of the present application,the spring arm which forms the slide lock member has a lock portionengageable with a lock shoulder on the slider automatically as theslider and memory card are moved to the inserted connection position.The ejection control member is mounted alongside the card ejectmechanism for movement generally parallel to the movement of the slider.The ejection control member includes a manually engageable portionoutside the housing. A spring biases the ejection control member to aretracted inoperative position.

Other objects, features and advantages of the disclosure of the presentapplication will be apparent from the following detailed descriptiontaken in connection with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The features of the disclosure of the present application which arebelieved to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appendedclaims. The disclosure of the present application, together with itsobjects and the advantages thereof, may be best understood by referenceto the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in which like reference numerals identify like elements in theFIGS. and in which:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a memory card connector according to thedisclosure of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the connector;

FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of the connector, looking at theopening to the card-receiving cavity;

FIG. 4 is a fragmented vertical section taken generally along line 4-4in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged, fragmented, exploded perspective view of theslider of the card eject mechanism, along with the slide lock member andthe ejection control member of the disclosure of the presentapplication;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged perspective view of the slider, looking at theopposite side thereof in relation to FIG. 5, and in conjunction with acorner of a memory card;

FIG. 7 is a top plan view of the slider;

FIG. 8 is a side elevational view of the slider;

FIG. 9 is a side elevational view of the slider, looking at the oppositeside of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a rear end elevational view of the slider;

FIG. 11 is a front elevational view of the slider;

FIG. 12 is a top plan view of the slide lock member;

FIG. 13 is a side elevational view of the slide lock member;

FIG. 14 is a top plan view of the ejection control member;

FIG. 15 is a side elevational view of the ejection control member;

FIG. 16 is a front elevational view of the ejection control member;

FIG. 17 is a rear end view of the ejection control member;

FIG. 18 is a top plan view of the connector, without a memory card;

FIG. 19 is a vertical section taken generally along line B-B in FIG. 18;

FIG. 20 is a fragmented vertical section taken generally along line C-Cin FIG. 18;

FIG. 21 is a view similar to that of FIG. 18, with a memory cardinserted into the connector;

FIG. 22 is a view similar to that of FIG. 19, with the memory cardinserted into the connector;

FIG. 23 is a view similar to that of FIG. 20, with the memory cardinserted into the connector;

FIGS. 24-26 are views similar to that of FIGS. 21-23, but illustratingthe connector in a first step of ejecting the memory card;

FIGS. 27-29 are views similar to that of FIGS. 24-26, but showing asecond step in ejecting the memory card;

FIG. 30 is an enlarged, fragmented perspective view showing a mechanismto prevent the memory card from over-running its withdrawal position;

FIG. 31 is a top plan view of the mechanism of FIG. 30, on a reducedscale; and

FIG. 32 is a vertical section taken generally along line A-A in FIG. 31.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to the drawings in greater detail, and first to FIGS. 1-4, thedisclosure of the present application is embodied in a memory cardconnector, generally designated 34, which includes an insulativehousing, generally designated 36, substantially covered by a stamped andformed metal shell, generally designated 38. The housing and the shellcombine to form a card-receiving cavity 40 which has a front insertionopening 42 to permit insertion of a memory card into the cavity in thedirection of arrow “D” (FIG. 1) and withdrawal of the memory card fromthe cavity into the direction of arrow “E.” Housing 36 may be molded ofdielectric material such as plastic or the like, and metal shell 38 maybe stamped and formed out of sheet metal material such as stainlesssteel or the like.

Insulative housing 36 of connector 34 is generally U-shaped and includesa rear terminal-mounting section 36 a and a pair of side wall sections36 b and 36 c extending forwardly from opposite ends of the rearsection. The rear section includes an integral floor 36 d (FIG. 3),which spans the side walls sections at the bottom of cavity 40.

A plurality of conductive terminals, generally designated 44, aremounted on the rear section of the housing on floor 36 d. The terminalshave contact portions 44 a which project forwardly into cavity 40, abovefloor 36 d, for engaging appropriate contacts on the memory card.

Metal shell 38 of connector 34 includes a top wall 38 a and a pair ofopposite longitudinal side walls 38 b and 38 c. The top wall of themetal shell, basically, forms the top of cavity 40.

A card eject mechanism, generally designated 46, and a slider controlmechanism, generally designated 48, are mounted along side wall section36 b of housing 36 and side wall 38 b of metal shell 38. FIG. 5 showsvarious components of card eject mechanism 46 and slider controlmechanism 48 in their general positional orientation within theconnector. Specifically, the card eject mechanism includes a slider,generally designated 50, and the slider control mechanism includes aslide lock member, generally designated 52, and an ejection controlmember, generally designated 54. A coil spring, generally designated 56,is positioned partially into a bore 58 in the rear end of slider 50 toconstantly bias the slider forwardly in the withdrawal directionindicated by arrow “E.”

Slider 50 is a one-piece structure unitarily molded of dielectricmaterial such as plastic or the like, similar to insulative housing 36.The slider has a central, partition wall 50 a, which runs front-to-rearof the slider. A downwardly sloped step 50 b is formed along the outsideof partition wall 50 a and leads to an upwardly sloped surface 50 c thatleads to a lock shoulder 50 d at the front of the slider. The lockshoulder is generally perpendicular to the direction of sliding movementof the slider.

As best seen in FIGS. 6 and 8, a lateral enlargement 50 e projectsinwardly from an inner surface 50 f of partition 50 a of slider 50. Thelateral enlargement has a chamfered corner 37 for abutting a polarizingcorner 58 (FIG. 6) of a memory card, generally designated 60 anddescribed hereinafter. A flexible, cantilevered engagement arm 50 hprojects forwardly of lateral enlargement 50 e and is spaced from innersurface 50 f of partition wall 50 a. The engagement arm has an upwardlyprojecting hook 50 i at the distal end thereof.

Still referring to FIG. 6, memory card 60 has a leading end or edge 60a, a side edge 60 b, a top surface 60 c and an engagement recess 60 d inthe side edge. When the memory card is inserted into the cavity ofconnector 34, hook 50 i at the distal end of engagement arm 50 h ofslider 50 “snaps” into recess 60 d at the side edge of the memory card,automatically as polarizing corner 58 of the memory card engageschamfered corner 50 g of the slider. The slider and the memory card thenmove into and out of the connector as a unitary assembly.

Referring to FIGS. 12 and 13 in conjunction with FIG. 5, slide lockmember 52 includes a cantilevered spring arm 52 a, which is stamped andformed out of top wall 38 a of metal shell 38. The distal end of thecantilevered spring arm is curved downwardly, as at 52 b, and terminatesin a lock portion or hook 52 c. A lateral or offset portion 52 d of thespring arm forms an upwardly curved hook 52 e. Lock hook 52 c engageslock shoulder 50 d of slider 50. This occurs automatically as the sliderand the memory card are moved to their fully inserted connectionposition.

Referring to FIGS. 14-17 in conjunction with FIG. 5, ejection controlmember 54 is stamped and formed of metal material and is located outsidelongitudinal side wall 38 b of metal shell 38. As seen best in FIG. 15,the ejection control member has a step-like ridge formed on its upperedge 54 a to define a bottom flat section 54 b, a top flat section 54 cand a sloped section 54 d extending between the bottom and top flatsections. A manually engageable thumb portion 54 e is formed at one endof the ejection control member, and a spring attachment portion 54 f(FIG. 1) is formed at the opposite end of the ejection control member.

As best seen in FIG. 1, a coil spring 64 is attached between springattachment portion 54 f of the ejection control member and a springengagement flange 66 which is stamped and formed out of side wall 38 bof metal shell 38 to project outwardly there from. As best seen in FIG.2, ejection control member 54 is slidably mounted to longitudinal sidewall 38 b of the metal shell by mounting flanges 68 which also arestamped and formed/raised from side wall 38 b of the metal shell. Whenthe ejection control member moves rearwardly in the card-insertiondirection, coil spring 64 is stretched. When the pushing force isremoved, the coil spring returns the ejection control member back to itsinitial stress-free position shown in FIG. 2.

FIGS. 18-20 show memory card connector 34 without memory card 60inserted thereinto. Slider 50 of card eject mechanism 46 is biasedforwardly by coil spring 56 to an ejection or withdrawal position.Ejection control member 54 is biased by coil spring 64 to itsinoperative position shown in FIGS. 2 and 19. Lock hook 52 c of slidelock member 52 engages surface 50 c of slider 50 which biases the slidemember downwardly while upwardly curved hook 52 e on lateral projection52 d of the slide lock member confronts sloped edge section 54 d ofejection control member 54, leaving a narrow gap therebetween as seen inFIG. 19.

FIGS. 21-23 shows memory card 60 pushed into connector 34 to its fullyinserted connection position, with leading end 60 a of the card reachingthe rear section 36 a of housing 36. As the card is inserted into cavity40, hook 50 i (FIG. 6) on engagement arm 50 h of slider 50 snaps intorecess 60 d of the memory card, as polarizing corner 58 of the cardengages chamfered corner 50 g of the slider. The card and slider thenmove together into the connector while compressing coil spring 56 of thecard eject mechanism. As the upwardly sloped surface 50 c (see FIG. 9)of slider 50 moves rearwardly, lock hook 50 c of slide lock member 52snaps into locking engagement with lock shoulder 50 d of the slider asseen in FIG. 23. Therefore, the slider and the memory card are lockedand held in the inserted connection position.

FIGS. 24-29 show how memory card 60 is ejected from connector 34.Specifically, ejection and/or removal of the memory card can beperformed by pushing on the manually engageable thumb portion 54 e ofejection control member 54 in the direction of arrow “F” (FIG. 24).Inward movement of the ejection control member causes the upwardlycurved hook 50 d of slide lock member 52 to ride upwardly along slopededge section 54 d of ejection control member 54. This causes lock hook52 c of the slide lock member to move out of locking engagement withlock shoulder 50 d of slider 50 as the upwardly curved hook 52 e of theslide lock member moves onto the top flat section 54 c of ejectioncontrol member 54 to maintain cantilevered spring arm 52 a of the slidelock member in a raised condition. As a result, slider 50 is unlockedand the slider, along with memory card 60, are ejected under theinfluence of coil spring 56 of the card eject mechanism, i.e., biasingthe card back to its initial position shown in FIG. 22. FIGS. 27-29 showthe memory card moved in the withdrawal direction “E” after the card isejected by the eject procedure described above.

As can be understood, in removing memory card 60 from connector 34,ejection control member 54 is pushed inwardly rather than pushing on thememory card. Therefore, as seen in FIGS. 21 and 22, the connector can bemounted in a housing, generally designated 80, having an outer surface81 which is generally flush with a rear end 82 of memory card 60. Thecard does not project beyond surface 81 of the housing, therebypreventing unintended removal of the card, which, otherwise, would occurby inadvertently pushing on the card. The rearwardly engageable thumbpiece 54 e of ejection control member 52 can project through alongitudinal slot (not shown) in housing 80. A button of insulatingmaterial (not shown) may be attached to thumb portion 54 e.Alternatively, connector 34 could be equipped with a mechanism formoving thumb portion 54 e in the card-insertion direction.

Finally, FIGS. 30-32 show a mechanism for preventing over-running ofmemory card 60 in the ejection direction “E” after being released by thecard eject mechanism and slider control mechanism. In other words, itwould be desirable to stop the memory card at the position of shown inFIG. 27 so that the card does not move forwardly and fall out of theconnector under the influence of inertia when slider 50 stops at itswithdrawal position.

More particularly, the anti-over-running mechanism is shown in FIGS.30-32 as a cantilevered leaf spring, generally designated 86, which isstamped and formed out of top wall 38 a of metal shell 38. The leafspring is connected to the top wall of the metal shell at a base 88 andhas an inwardly directed V-shaped hook 90 formed at the distal end ofthe leaf spring. It can be seen that leaf spring 86 is near frontinsertion opening 42 of cavity 40.

In operation, hook 90 of the anti-over-running leaf spring 86 ispositionable into recess 60 d in side edge 60 b of memory card 60. Whenthe memory card leaves slider 50 and continues further movement in theinsertion direction under the influence of inertia, recess 60 d at theside edge of the card meets hook 90, and leaf spring 86 biases or“snaps” the hook into the recess to stop the card and prevent the cardfrom falling down or out of the connector.

In conclusion, it can be seen from the above detailed description thatmemory card connector 34 has a card eject mechanism in which a slidercontrol mechanism is incorporated. The mechanisms create a push/pushsystem but the system is not of the conventional “push/push” type to theextent that the memory card, itself, is not pushed twice. With theembodiment of the disclosure of the present application, the memory cardfirst is pushed to its inserted connection position, and then theejection control memory 48 is pushed to eject the memory card from theconnector.

It will be understood that the disclosure of the present application maybe embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit orcentral characteristics thereof. The present examples and embodiments,therefore, are to be considered in all respects as illustrative and notrestrictive, and the disclosure of the present application is not to belimited to the details given herein.

1. A memory card connector, comprising: an insulative housing, theinsulative housing having a terminal-mounting section which mounts aplurality of conductive terminals having contact portions for engagingappropriate contacts on a memory card and which at least in part definesa card-receiving cavity for receiving the memory card; a metal shell,the metal shell mounted on the insulative housing and combiningtherewith to define the card-receiving cavity, the metal shell having afront insertion opening to permit insertion and withdrawal of the memorycard into and out of the memory card connector; a card eject mechanism,the card eject mechanism including a slider movably mounted on theinsulative housing and engageable with the memory card for movementthereof into and out of the cavity between an inserted connectionposition and a withdrawal position; a spring biasing member, the springbiasing member biasing the slider in a direction from the insertedconnection position towards the withdrawal position; a slide lockmember, the slide lock member extending from the metal shell,independent of the card eject mechanism and engageable with the sliderto hold the slider in the inserted connection position; an ejectionspring, the ejection spring mounted on the connector for releasing theslide lock member from engagement with the slider to cause the sliderand memory card to be ejected; and a catching mechanism for catching thememory card in its movement in the ejection direction and preventing thememory card from moving under inertia beyond the withdrawal position;wherein the catching mechanism is integral with the metal shell.
 2. Thememory card connector of claim 1, wherein said catching mechanism islocated near the front insertion opening of the card-receiving cavity.3. The memory card connector of claim 2, wherein the metal shell isstamped and formed from sheet metal material and the catching mechanismis stamped and formed there from.
 4. The memory card connector of claim3, wherein the catching mechanism is engageable with a recess in thememory card.
 5. The memory card connector of claim 4, wherein thecatching mechanism comprises a cantilevered leaf spring.
 6. The memorycard connector of claim 3, wherein the metal shell includes a top walland at least one side wall, and the catching mechanism is stamped andformed from the top wall of the shell.
 7. The memory card connector ofclaim 6, wherein the catching mechanism comprises a cantilevered spring.8. A memory card connector, comprising: an insulative housing, theinsulative housing having a rear terminal-mounting section, which mountsa plurality of conductive terminals having contact portions for engagingappropriate contacts on a memory card, and at least one side wallsection, the side wall section extending forwardly from one end of therear terminal-mounting section; a metal shell, the metal shell mountedon the insulative housing and combining therewith to define acard-receiving cavity having a front insertion opening to permitinsertion and withdrawal of the memory card into and out of theconnector between an inserted connection position and a withdrawalposition; a card eject mechanism, the card eject mechanism including aslider movably mounted on the side wall section of the insulativehousing and engageable with the memory card for movement thereof; anejection spring, the ejection spring mounted on the connector forreleasing the slide lock member from engagement with the slider to causethe slider and memory card to be ejected; and a catching mechanism forcatching the memory card in its movement in the ejection direction andpreventing the memory card from moving under inertia beyond thewithdrawal position; wherein the catching mechanism is integral with themetal shell.
 9. The memory card connector of claim 8, wherein saidcatching mechanism is located near the front insertion opening of thecard-receiving cavity.
 10. The memory card connector of claim 9, whereinthe metal shell is stamped and formed from sheet metal material and thecatching mechanism is stamped and formed there from.
 11. The memory cardconnector of claim 10, wherein the catching mechanism is engageable witha recess in the memory card.
 12. The memory card connector of claim 11,wherein the catching mechanism comprises a cantilevered leaf spring. 13.The memory card connector of claim 10, wherein the metal shell includesa top wall and at least one side wall, and the catching mechanism isstamped and formed from the top wall of the shell.
 14. The memory cardconnector of claim 13, wherein the catching mechanism comprises acantilevered spring.